When each day passes, we continue to be reminded of many small things we no longer have access to that we would take for granted back home. This Easter was incomparable to any other Easter we have ever experienced. No Easter Bunny. No Easter baskets. No Charleston Hesston’s “10 Commandments”. No ham, deviled eggs, potato salad, or sweet tea. No option of which service to attend. No Peeps. No Cadbury. No plastic eggs. No Rangers Opening Weekend.
Instead, we experienced the raw goodness of His victory. The night before Easter, Chris suffered from a strong round of warfare from the enemy. He spent the entire night tossing and turning in attempt to fall asleep while battling thoughts from darkness. He felt physically sick and exhausted. We were not able to make it to our community gathering for Sunday morning, and Chris finally fell asleep around 10 am. Becky stayed back to pry for him by his side. When he woke up, he said he dreamed that he was on his knees in pryer, asking for Father to relieve him. Talk about a very unusual Easter. But to us, this was not unusual. Knowing what day it was on the calendar was a huge sign to us that this is not a favorite day for the enemy.
Originally, we had the day planned for about 25 guests to come over to our home for a potluck dinner and Easter egg hunt. We ended up having to cancel our planned event because of our morning we experienced. Come to find out, the people originally coming over were no longer able to make it for various reasons anyway! Here comes the cool part. Last minute, Becky got together with the other foreigners in town for an impromptu Easter egg hunt with some of their neighbors and friends. They were able to share the meaning of Easter, have an egg hunt, and play games with about 10 local children who had never heard the message before! The crazy part is…. all 25 people who were originally going to come over for an Easter egg hunt were ALL family members already! These 10 children and their mothers were NOT family members, and got the chance to hear for the first time!! It is crazy awesome how these things work out. We saw the raw goodness of His victory! We endured battle and sought His winning.
This is a glimpse into our reality over here. It is not meant to scare you, but to let you see the life we are living as the enemy is doing everything in his evil power to steal the hearts of the lost away from our Father.
Thanks to Chris’ momma, Becky was able to dye Easter eggs with her Intercultural Class students (210 of them) and share the meaning of Easter! It is beautiful to see the connection between the simplicity of an egg and the celebration of new life.